1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to calculators and, more particularly, to providing a wireless network to communicate data between calculators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic calculators have evolved significantly since their inception as a general consumer product in the early 1970""s. In addition to arithmetic calculations, current day calculators often provide programming and graphing functions. Graphing calculators include a screen able to display graphics in addition to alphanumeric characters.
For some time, graphing calculators have been able to communicate to one another through a wired connection. An example of a calculator of this type is the TI-92 calculator produced by Texas Instruments Incorporated of Dallas, Tex. Wired connections may be used, for example, in a classroom setting where problem sets are downloaded from the teacher""s calculator to the students"" calculators. Once downloaded, the students can use the calculator to solve the problem.
Despite the advantages of such as system, communication between calculators has not been accepted in widespread use. One reason is that the wires between calculators are somewhat cumbersome to distribute to the students. While the wires could be built into a classroom""s infrastructure, the cost of providing the wiring to each desk would be significant. Further, permanent wiring would inhibit flexible arrangement of the student""s desks.
Accordingly, there is a need for method and apparatus of connecting calculators in a flexible manner.
The present invention provides a wireless network including a master processing device for generating information and broadcasting the information through wireless transmission of signals and a plurality of client processing devices having circuitry for receiving the information from the master processing device and for transmitting other information to the master processing device. The master processing device selects one of the plurality of client processing devices to acknowledge the receipt of the information from the master processing device.
The present invention provides significant advantages over the prior art. First, data transfer from the master processing device to the client processing devices is accurate, since the transfer is acknowledged by the selected processing device. Further accuracy can be achieved by polling each client processing device. Second, the wireless transmission of signals can achieved using modules added to existing calculator designs.